U+238B "⎋" Broken Circle with Northwest Arrow Unicode Character
Unicode Version 17.0
⎋
U+238B "⎋" Broken Circle with Northwest Arrow is a symbolic graphic used primarily in computing to represent the "Escape" key, often found on computer keyboards and in interface designs. Its design features a circle with a gap, from which an arrow points outward to the northwest, visually conveying the concept of exiting or breaking out of a current state or mode. This character is rarely used in standard text but serves as a useful icon in technical documentation, menus, or software labels where space is limited or where a more visual cue is desired.
General Properties
| Code Point | U+238B |
| Version Added | 3.0 |
| Name | Broken Circle with Northwest Arrow |
| Block | Miscellaneous Technical |
| General Category | Other Symbol |
| Canonical Combining Class | Not Reordered |
| Bidirectional Class | Other Neutral |
Encodings
| HTML Decimal Encoding | ⎋ |
| HTML Hex Encoding | ⎋ |
| UTF-8 Encoding | 0xE2 0x8E 0x8B |
| UTF-16 Encoding | 0x238B |
| UTF-32 Encoding | 0x0000238B |
| C/C++/Java Escape | \u238b |
Unicode Properties
| NFC Quick Check | Yes |
| NFD Quick Check | Yes |
| NFKC Quick Check | Yes |
| NFKD Quick Check | Yes |
| Numeric Type | None |
| Numeric Value | NaN |
| Line Break | Alphabetic |
| Script | Common |
| Script Extensions | Common |
| Indic Syllabic Category | Other |
| Pattern Syntax | Yes |
| Vertical Orientation | Upright |
| Grapheme Base | Yes |
| Grapheme Cluster Break | Other |
| Word Break | Other |
| Sentence Break | Other |